Rag Rugs are made by cutting up strips of material and pegging them to a sheet of hessian or canvas mesh. In the old days, a shirt or blouse, trousers or skirt, bed linen and tablecloth might be too worn to wear or use but much of the material remained in good condition and was rarely thrown away. The good parts were saved to be cut and pegged into a colourful rug as an activity for a winter evening. The only tools required are a pair of scissors and the Peg to draw the material through the backing sheet. A block of wood can also be used to wrap around the material before cutting into even length strips.

Cutting the material into thin strips

The process is very simple so the whole family might be involved. You can choose to make a random pattern of colours and materials or draw an outline on the backing to guide you to form a colourful picture such as the Christmas Tree shown here and made in one of our workshops.

Rag Rug making is a wonderful activity for children - with some help from adults to cut up the strips with sharp scissors before you start pegging. It is great for conservation too. That favourite old shirt or colourful bed linen can be recycled into a new favourite rug for the bedroom floor!